Getting to Know You
by LittleScarlet
Summary: The story of young Gold Saints of the 18th century. Kardia was annoyed by Degel's attitude when they first met, What happened to Kardia that he at last accepted Degel to be his friend ? Read and Review please   !
1. That Papery thing is called 'Book'

**Getting to Know You**

**Chapter-1. That Papery thing is called 'Book'.

* * *

**

**Well, Well…Another English fic from me. It has been some time since I wrote the last one. This is going to be about the friendship of Kardia and Degel when they're still 12, and still in training to be the mighty gold saints we all know. So let's start the story !**

**Disclaimer : Saint Seiya the Lost Canvas does not belongs to me.

* * *

**

"WILL YOU GUYS JUST STOP IT ?" The young Aries cried out. He's tired of watching Kardia kept fighting with Manigoldo, they've been fighting since the first time they laid their eyes on each other .Such as throwing rocks, having a food fight which also includes throwing knives and forks around, and the worst is when they were both set up to fight in the training session. Manigoldo tried to rip Kardia's soul out of his body and Kardia tried to pierce Manigoldo into a cheese.

Kardia and Manigoldo kept on fighting, ignoring Shion.

" I don't understand why do they hate each other so much. They're both have lots of similarities !" Shion said while he sat down leaning on a rock next to his best friend Dokho.

" What similarities ?" Ask the young tiger.

" They both love fighting, they're both arrogant, and they're both merciless when it comes to a fight ."

" That is why they both hate each other so much. They just want to be number 1 in those terms, and neither Manigoldo nor Kardia will give up the title of being the cruelest saint and they'll fight for it." Degel answered the question. He had always tried to be helpful even though his words and presence were always as cold as ice.

" And I guess you're aiming for the title of the most Intelligence saint ?" said the future Libra saint. He's just trying to funny. But Degel just walked away, holding a book in his hand.

" Does that guy ever smile even just once in his life ? "Dokho stood up while he watch Degel walked away.

"My master told me that the saint of Aquarius must throw away all his feelings in order to achieve the coldness of Absolute zero."

"Does he even have a heart ?"

" He does, but it has already been frozen, years ago." Dokho looked at Shion, he didn't believe what he just heard and stared at the direction Degel went. He can still see some snowflakes floating.

" Hey, Where's Albafica ?" Dokho turned around to Shion. Tried to change the subject.

" I don't know, but my Master said that he locked himself up the Pisces temple. " Dokho looked at Shion's expression and noticed that he was worried about Albafica. The situation in the training ground must have upset him. Start from Kardia and Manigoldo's fight, then the coldness of Degel, and Albafica's state.

* * *

Kardia was sitting on a rock, taking a break from his endless fight with Manigoldo and wondering why Shion has been acting all weird that morning then he spotted Degel passed through. He knew about Degel yet he hadn't talk to him. Maybe Degel is worthy enough to be his opponent he thought.

" HEY ! You there ! The one with that bunch of papery thing ! " Kardia jumped off the rock

" This papery thing is called book " Degel corrected him.

" Whatever, hey…would you like to fight me ?" he smiled, pointing his needle, ready to strike.

" I'm not interested in fighting." He replied shortly.

" What ? Not interested in fighting ? Are you even a saint ?"

Degel said nothing and walked away leaving the future Scorpio saint standing, still in his battle stance, but when Kardia tried to chase him, he could feel that his feet has been frozen to the ground, unable to move. Manigoldo came and seeing his dear rival froze to the ground, he let out a laugh which caught Kardia's attention.

" What are you laughing at ?" Kardia growled at him.

" Laughing at a tiny Scorpion whose feet are glued to the ground. " He laughed again.

" What did you mean by that CRAB ?" Kardia talked back.

" Oh, you still want to pick a fight with that state ? It's okay by me !" Manigoldo smirked evilly, even devil's smirk wouldn't be able to compare to Manigoldo's when it comes to evilness. Manigoldo prepare to attack.

" HEY ! WAIT ! THAT'S NOT FAIR " Kardia tried to dodge every hit Manigoldo launched, but it is hard to dodge when his feet were froze to the ground. And he ended up founded dying by Sisyphus with his feet still froze to the ground.

"OUCH !" Kardia shouted as he was being treated by Sisyphus.

" That Degel ! Why did he do that ? and Manigoldo have to pay for what he did !" Kardia kept gritting his teeth as he would really love to chew Manigoldo's head off. "OUCH !"

" Kardia, you better learn from what you just experienced this morning. " Sisyphus tried to give his hardheaded junior an advice which he believe will just ignore the advice.

"You should try to be like Degel." That last word caught Kardia's attention.

" You mean I have to sit still and read that papery thing ?" Kardia hate it when his senior compare him with others, especially when it is his comrade.

" Those papery things are called 'books', Kardia ." Sisyphus didn't need to lift his eyes from Kardia's wound, but he can see Kardia's annoyed look.

As soon as Sisyphus treated Kardia's wound, he ran off as quick as he could, back to his temple. Still thinking of what Sisyphus just said. _'Try to be like Degel'_ Those 5 words really bugged him off. He can't even sleep. And try to go investigate what's so great about Degel ? He tried to be made his steps quieter when he passed through the Sagittarius unaware of Sisyphus' presence behind the pillar, he smiled while he watch the curiosity of his junior. Kardia ran through the Capricorn temple quiet fast, knowing El Cid, was away for a mission given by the pope.

Kardia finally reached the Aquarius temple, panting…he can see his breathes because it's really cold at night, but he can still feel the different coldness from inside the temple of the water bearer.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night ?" A voice called out.

* * *

_**To be continued…**_

**What do think about it ? I guess it's quite predictable whose voice was that. But, I hope you like the Story, even the first part of the story was not really good. And I think that this first chapter is kinda short. But I promise I will make it longer in the next chapter. **

**Tell me your opinion about his fic^^  
And as always…Please Review**


	2. Stars ?

**Getting to Know You**

**Chapter-2. Stars?**

**It has been a while since I last updated my fics. But then again I remembered that I need to continue this, so here it is! The second chapter of this fic. Well enough said, let's see what I got here and don't forget to review this chapter!

* * *

**

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"A familiar voice called out.

"I was just passing by."Degel came out to see his guest and stared at him in disbelieve. He can't be just passing by, there must be something else than just 'passing by'.

"Okay, okay! I was just trying to check what are doing."The blue haired boy confessed with a light blush."But, what are doing with that bunch of paper-I mean 'books'?"Kardia looks a bit proud using his new word 'book'.

"Uh, these are not books Kardia. They're scrolls."

A pause...

"Why on earth do they have to name those things in lots of names? They're only a bunch of paper with a whole lot of letters in it!"His voiced rang louder in the silence of the night, even Sisyphus who was in the Sagittarius temple can heard what he said and sigh.

"You can't read do you?"Ouch…it hurts Kardia's pride. A lot.

"Wha-I mean, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT IDEA?"Kardia was already as red as a ripe tomato.

"It's not that I want to offend you or something, but you don't look like the educated type and you can't even differ books from scrolls."Degel pointed out. Kardia wanted to argue but he can't really think of anything to say at the moment.

"Well, it seems that you don't have anything to do right now. How about you join me to the Pope's chamber. He said that he is going to show me something interesting."

_I guess there's nothing wrong going there and besides I went here because I wanted to know why Sisyphus thought he's better than me and I have to 'try to be like him'_. He thought to himself

"Okay, I guess there's no harm of going there, not that I'm scared of getting harmed of something…It might have been more fun if there are someone to fight with…HEY! Where are going?"He yelled when he noticed that Degel had walked into his temple. Kardia chased him into the temple, but he was suddenly attacked by the strange sense of coldness."Oy! Degel, Is it winter already or do you have the ability to transport the whole ice block in Siberia into your temple?"

"It is my cosmo. I used ice technique and I covered the whole place with it."

"Why would you do that, It's really annoying."Kardia shivered a bit as he try to get out of the temple as fast as he could.

"I simply love cold."Such a simple answer, and definitely not what Kardia had been expecting. He thought that the Aquarius boy would say something like to freeze the whole temple so that his opponent may slipped on the ice and something that would've given him more advantages in fighting. Not because he simply love cold."And it made no sense if you're annoyed with it, 'cause I don't covered your temple too."

Kardia cursed under his breathes, and hoping it'll make it less cold.

Degel was rather annoyed by the babbling of the Scorpio trainee, but he also enjoyed the short trip to the pope's chamber. He was used to the silence and always went to visit the pope alone, and it feels so great to have someone to accompany him although he was somehow reckless and hard to talk with. It feels like he have found a new friend. Oh, how he missed the time when he used to spend with his friend in his training in Bluegard.

"Well,well…Degel, seems like you've found yourself a companion tonight."The pope greeted them with a warm smile, and welcome them in."Kardia, I've never know that you're interested in stars."

"Yes I-Wait? Stars?"He was really confused.

"Yes, tonight we'll be watching or you may say reading the stars."The pope smiled down to the now even more confused little scorpion.

"Do you guys doesn't have enough books to read, now that you even try to read the stars?"It doesn't makes any sense to him. The first time he agreed to follow Degel to the pope's chamber, he said that there was no harm in going, but now he found out that it was worse than getting harmed. He had to listen to an old man talking about nonsense and how to read the sparkling things in the sky. If it was even possible, he was sure that he might die of boredom even before the holy war started.

"Hey, look! It's the Teumessian fox!"Degel pointed to the sky.

"Huh? Where? I've never known a fox could fly ?"The pope laugh at this.

"Of course they don't silly! It's the fox that was turned into stars by Zeus."

"Why would him?"

"Well, because the fox got chased by Laelaps, the dog that was destined to catch all of his target, but the fox was destined never to be caught. So the chase will never end and Zeus decided to put an end to this whole thing by turning them into the stars."

After Degel finished the whole explanation of it, Kardia was already asleep. He felt a bit annoyed, but also a bit interested in his new friend."How could he fell asleep when someone is explaining things to him?"He sighed.

"I guess it's just the way he is."The elder one smiled to the green haired boy. Both staring at the sleeping boy."He would be so cute if he's this quite all the time, just let him sleep Degel."He added when he saw Degel tried to wake him up.

"Yeah…"Degel nodded in agreement, as he kept staring at Kardia.

"I can see that you're interested in your new friend."He smiled."That's good, it means that I won't need to worry about you being lonely anymore."Degel looked at the Pope with wide eyes. He never knew that the Pope was worried about him being alone all the time, he was blushing madly and staring to the floor is what he thought would be best.

"I think that we should wake him up after all."Degel poked Kardia a few times hoping it would be enough to wake him up, but he sigh when he realized that he will need much more effort to do so.

"Ugh, let me sleep you jerk…"Kardia mumbled in his sleep.

"But Kardia, we should go back now."Degel was still trying to wake him up.

"Let me sleep 5 more minutes and I'll let you to kiss the ground I've walked upon."He mumbled again.

"It's useless."

"I guess we should ask for Sisyphus to fetch him."The pope suggested

Degel nodded and ran to the Sagittarius temple immediately.

The next morning when Kardia woke up to found Sisyphus sitting on the side of his bed frowning, he got a full set of lecture from him mercilessly, without considering the fact that Kardia had just woken up and won't listen to what he said.

"Jeez, I think that you should know I've been through a whole night full of speech about stars and stuffs from the pope, there's no need for you to give me a lecture anymore."He yawned trying to go back to sleep.

"Yeah, and he also told me about you letting him to kiss the ground you've walked upon."

At this, Kardia's eyes were wide opened. He may be an ignorant little bastard but he still have some respect to the pope unlike the pope's disciple, Manigoldo."I WHAT?"He yelled. _'now not only Sisyphus, but the pope will also tell me to be like Degel.'_

"What's so great about him?"

"Sorry?"Sisyphus didn't heard what he said.

"What's so great about that annoying ice cube?"Kardia can't find what's so great about Degel and now he wanted to asked Sisyphus about it.

"You'll find out by your own."

Kardia pouted.

"Is it because he can read?"Kardia's still trying.

"May be, but there's a lot more and I'm sure you'll know sooner or later." Sisyphus walked out of the temple leaving the confused little boy sitting on the side of his bed. He quickly get washed and dressed up then rushed out to the training ground where he expect to find Degel sitting on a boulder reading his book.

"Hey, Ice cube!"Kardia called out to Degel with a huge grin on his face, waving and running to his new friend.

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

**I tried to make it a bit longer but it seems to still be short. And yes, I made Degel talked a little bit more than usual since he is not as cold as Camus, but I'm still stuck on 'what-should-I-name-the-chapters' thingy. Oh well, I hope I can get more inspiration to write for the next chapter.  
Anyway, how was the second chapter? Tell me your opinion about it by reviewing the chapter. Hope you like it!**

_P.S: I'm going to have lots of exams so maybe I won't be able to update any of my fics soon.(both Indonesian and English fics.)_

**Greetings,  
Scarlet Aleister Solo-^w^**


	3. Alta's Bed

**Getting to Know You**

**Chapter.3- Alta's Bed**

* * *

**A/N: Wow, it really has been a while since I updated it! And I guess all of you are wondering what does Alta's bed have anything to do with Kardia and Degel? Just read it and you'll find out eventually.**

**As I promised, longer chapter this time! Go read it and tell me what you think of it! :D**

* * *

Kardia ran to the training ground with a big grin on his face. The sun was shining brightly and the wind blows through his wavy blue hair. Some female trainee giggle as he ran past them while the other trainee looking at the boy suspiciously, knowing there must be something behind that wide grin. But knowing Kardia, nothing good. Kardia ignored the other trainees and make a bee line toward his new friend, who was as you can guess, reading. Degel didn't even bother to look up to notice Kardia was running for him. Because he already pretty much shouting his name from the time he stepped out of the Aries temple.

Giving a huge sigh, he closed his book and looked at his friend annoyed. And there it was, the huge smile of the Scorpio gold saint-to-be.

"What do you want from me, If I might ask?"

"Well…let's see."Kardia posed as if he was trying to make a very hard decision.

"Ah, I know! I want you to hang out with me!"

"And why should I do that?"

"Wha- uh..."Well, Kardia hadn't really thought about it yet, and so he said,"B-because I said so!"

Kardia looked satisfied with his answer, which he thought was awesome.

Degel rolled his eyes and open his book to continue reading. Feeling annoyed of being ignored by his friend, Kardia glared at him and took the book from Degel's hand. Not a very wise thing to do though. The temperature suddenly dropped as Degel gave him a murderously cold glare.

"Give it back."He said, in a dangerously cold tone.

Kardia stood still, he was so shocked and stood so still you may think that Degel had already froze him. He looked at the book and gave it back to him carefully. He never knew Degel could be so frightening when provoked. And it didn't sound so good being turned into a human popsicle.

"What is it with you and this…"

A pause

"…book?"He said, unsure about the last part.

"This book contained a vast amount of knowledge, and…"

"Is it really important ?" Kardia looked at him in pure confusion.

"Knowledge? Of course it is!" Degel stood up and stared at his friend in disbelief, and blab out a whole lot information about 'knowledge' that you can fill a book with it. But unfortunately, our lovely little Kardia's mind already drifted in his own thought.

_'So this is what Sisyphus was talking about, he wanted me to learn how to read! Yes, that must've been it!'_

"...therefore It's a really important treasure of humankind. Are you still listening?"

"Uh, what was that?"Kardia looked at the little Aquarius boy innocently.

"You weren't listening were you?"Degel immediately felt stupid explaining all of those just to be ignored by the said Scorpion.

"Whatever, now I want you to teach me how to read!"Kardia couldn't believe he really said that at first, and he himself was a bit shocked as well. But, he realize that he had to do It to show Sisyphus that he might surpassed Degel in term of knowledge, which might never happened. Ever. Full of confidence, his grin got wider.

"Are you sure?"The green haired kid eyed his friend suspiciously unsure of his true intention. But decided it is best to wait and see the true motive behind all of those unlikely behaviour of the one who tried to achieve the title of being the 'cruellest saint ever'.

"Okay, then."Degel sigh and tried to find a basic word to teach Kardia."Why don't we start with alphabet."

"Alphe-what?"Kardia's expression was priceless, Degel almost cracked a smile.

"Alphabet."He repeated.

"Elephant?"

"No, Kardia. Alphabet."

"It's the beginning of the lesson and you already started speaking nonsense!"Kardia started to regret his decision."I don't give a damn about 'Alta's Bed'!"

"I've told you, it's 'ALPHABET' not 'Alta's Bed'! Can't you see the different of it!"Degel was still keeping his cool and patience -or at least he tried inside he was ready to smack some intelligence into him. But he was afraid it might kill the remaining brain cells of this little scorpion.

"Honestly, no. Why don't we just get on with the lesson, I don't think that those Alta's bed got anything to do with this reading thing. And Shion would probably think that we're a bunch pedophiles trying to rape his baby...what? Cousin?"

Degel stared at Kardia, stunned by his stupidity. How could someone possibly mistook alphabet with Alta's bed, and yet he knew the word 'pedophile'? Teaching Kardia was one of his most regrettable thing he ever done in his life, and one of the most painful too."Actually, alphabet have everything to do with reading."

He decided to teach him the different of it when a sound of laughter fill the air.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...What's this? Two lovers are going out, how sweet it makes me want to puke rainbows."

"Manigoldo."Kardia stood up, a murderous glare is fixed upon both the Cancer and the Scorpio trainee."What do you want this time?"

"Oh, nothing...I just happened to pass by and I suddenly got this awesome idea to rip your soul out!"Manigoldo was already at his battle stance, ready to strike.

"Why don't you just pretend that I've mopped the floor with you and just run off like the pathetic crab you are! Degel here is going to teach me to read Alta's bed!"

A pause.

"You- What- who..whose bed?"Manigoldo was totally taken aback by this.

"That Aries Shion's baby cousin, Alta's bed! Although I don't know how I'm supposed to read it."Kardia replied proudly. At least his knowledge is better than that of the wimpy crab's.

"I don't give a damn about that Alta's bed!"he snapped.

"Um, excuse me...actually, It's alphabet."Degel tried to intervene between the two saint-to-be.

"I DON'T CARE!"They yelled back in unison.

"You guys have so many things in common."

Degel said that so casually unaware of the effect it would give to both blue haired-boy.

"What did you just say? And I thought you were smart, Degel."Kardia twitched in disgust, he was clearly offended by it."There is no way in hell am I and this pathetic crab have anything in common! Even our sign is different, Scorpion is way more manly than a mere crab! Crabs can do nothing useful other than being some food!"

"Hah! Scorpions are more manly than crabs? Those are just a bunch of excuses! There's no way you little scorpions can win with those tiny needle, your long red nail makes you look like a girl!"Manigoldo intervene in Kardia's rant as he could barely take anymore of those insults. And Degel could even read what was on the Cancer trainee's mind just by looking at his irritated expression and cocky smirk. Obviously, nothing nice.

"Why, you little...crabs can only pinch people, and that doesn't even hurt, scorpions' sting are way more deadly and poisonous!"

"Shut up you tiny insect! The pope was the previous Cancer saint, just wait until I ruled over the Sanctuary and you'll be kneeling before my glorious feet!"

"Hah! Let alone ruling the Sanctuary, you'll be the first one to be found dead in the Holy war, if you even succeed in winning the cancer cloth fair and square, without having the pope to play favorite!"

"Take it back! You little wimp."

And they started another fight, completely ignoring the Aquarius trainee. Who was actually fine by it. Although he realize he had pour a huge amount of oil into the flame, he couldn't care less. At least he can read his book now, although the other two trainees are trying to strangle each other to death.

"Hey, Degel!"

Degel looked up from his book hearing his name was called. It's unusual for people to greet him, because he rarely greet them back. He was wondering who called for him, and he found a nervous little sheep. The next candidate for the Aries Saint. He looked as if he was scared of Degel. This kid really needed confidence.

"Um...can I join you?"He asked rather shyly.

"Sure."He gestured the younger trainee to sit on the rock next to him. He sat and tried to form some kind of conversation.

"They're arguing again, huh?"Said the young Aries.

"...More like they're fighting."Degel said, with his eyes still focused on his book.

"No, I'm quite sure they're arguing, that's strange."

"What?"He finally caught the elder one's attention. And sure enough, when he looked at the other two, he were not fighting. Instead, they were caught up in an intense conversation. Arguing with each other while sending their best death glares.

"I wonder what are they arguing about."Shion tried to listen.

"I suggest you not to, it won't do you any good."Said Degel. Although he himself was quite curious as well.

He closed his book and tried to concentrate on what were they arguing about. It wasn't that hard to do, since the battle was so intense and their voice was getting louder as they spoke. And they got to the part where Degel was sure Shion would get extremely offended about. Their intense discussion reached the point of relating the so called 'Alta's bed' and some inappropriate words . It was such a relief to Degel that Shion didn't understand those words. He's going to have a serious discussion from where the Scorpio trainee got those words.

"Uh, did Kardia just said Alta's bed?"Shion eyed Degel with an expression somewhere between confusion and suspicion.

"He meant alphabet." the elder trainee replied quickly, preventing any unfortunate 'misunderstanding' since it was likely that Kardia could slip his name in any of his sentences and he won't be able to deny anything because he felt rather responsible for any stupidity of his friend, and also for the fact that he was not only involved in it but he was the one who agreed to teach Kardia how to read.

_'Neither Sisyphus nor the pope would be too happy with the progress of things around here If I don't stop that little idiot soon.'_The green haired boy thought. He sighed and started to make his way to prevent anything unfortunate to happen. He might even got to try his new technique on his fellow gold saint-to-be if he had to. He was already half way to the fight when Shion decided to speak.

"I'm glad you've found a friend you can now talk to, Degel."

Degel turned around wide-eyed, he saw Shion smiling sincerely at him.

"I wish someday we can be that close too. I mean, like you and Kardia."Shion smiled at him one last time and walk away to the other side of the training ground, and left Degel processing his words.

_'Friend.'_He thought.

It reminded him of his friend back when he was training in Siberia, Unity. He was quite sure the kind of relation he had with Unity was called friendship, but somehow It was on a whole different case with Kardia. Unity and Kardia was too different to compare. Unity was smart, just like Degel and unlike Kardia, Degel could form a decent conversation with him. On the other hand, Kardia was reckless, arrogant and cruel.

"I don't understand."

He stared at Kardia, who was still arguing with Manigoldo, Kardia could be easily offended by such small thing. How can he possibly befriend someone as annoying, hot-tempered and uneducated people as him, let alone his attitude constantly insulted the power of knowledge, which Degel treasured above all. But somehow he felt attracted by Kardia's stupid behavior, and he felt some kind of warmth in his chest.

It actually felt fun being with him.

...

Yes, he was rather interesting.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

**Is it long enough or is it still too short? Please review and give me your opinions. There is no guarantee I will update it soon. But, thanks for reading guys! ^^**


	4. The Saint and the Seed

**Getting to Know You**

**Chapter.4- The Saint and the Seed.**

**Okay, here's the new chapter. I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

"So, this is alpha."Degel said, while pointing at the letter in the book.

"You mean alphabet?"Asked Kardia, pouting like a five-year-old.

Degel looked at him, amused. He actually looked cute when he pout like that and when his obedient side showed out which was as rare as Asmita going out for a walk. He sighed and continued with the lesson.

"No, Kardia. Only alpha this time."

"Only alpha? So this thing that looked like a ribbon is alpha. Got it!"Kardia stared at the book blankly, still pouting. He seemed to listen as Degel pointed out the other letters,yet no interest was shown as his bright blue orbs. Noticing Kardia's lack of spirit, Degel stopped pointing out words as Kardia no longer paying any attention to it.

A few moments later, Kardia noticed a certain green haired boy staring at him with deep interest and a hint of annoyance.

"So, what is this letter?"Kardia absently pointed at one of the decorations they put for the border on each pages. Being his ignorant self, Kardia couldn't really differ them from the actual thing he should be learning.

Although Degel had been expecting some words or maybe question from Kardia, he was still taken aback by such a sudden reaction he made by pointing his sharp red nail on the book. For an instance, the green haired boy thought that his friend had finally took some interest in learning, and obviously it was before he saw what the idiot was pointing at.

"Ka-Kardia...those were just decorations."He said quite patiently, although his eyes were twitching unable to determine if he liked this idiot, or hate him tremendously.

The said idiot got up and made another expected stupid conclusion which he thought was quite brilliant."So, this ribbon thing is alpha and the other are just decorations, I never thought that it's this easy. Thanks Degel!"And with that, he ran off toward the twelve temples. Leaving his friend dumfounded of how dumb the Scorpio trainee was.

"So he's still pissed that I freeze Manigoldo to stop the fight."Degel shrugged and returned his attention to the book he was reading, which is also the one he used to teach Kardia.

Meanwhile, Kardia was running as fast as he could toward the Sagittarius temple.

"Sisyphus! Sisyphus!"He searched the temple, as he called for the saint.

"What is it Kardia?"The Sagittarius gold saint appeared as his name was called.

"Ah! Here you are, Sisyphus! I did it! I did it!"The little scorpion beamed at the brunette. Making the older saint confused.

"Um, what did you do?"asked the young gold saint just to please his junior rather than out of his curiosity

"I finally manage to be like Degel! Haha!"Kardia said proudly, as if the entire Sanctuary had elected him as the pope, which is unlikely to happen.

"Really? How so?"Sisyphus pat the blue haired boy on his head and smiled. Part of him was also quite curious of what -horrible- thing he had done to the poor Aquarius trainee. Sisyphus was quite sure Kardia had some of those 'If I can't be like him, I'll turn him to be like me' thought somewhere in the most deserted part of his brain. But to think about about it, the little scorpion got no chance of outsmarting Degel, let alone brainwashing him into a bloodthirsty fighting machine.

"I can read now!"Kardia beamed, he grinned so wide, Sisyphus had to restrain the urge to count his teeth.

"Here! Let me show you!"Kardia was really excited in showing Sisyphus his new skill, he rummaged through his senior's bookshelf and picked a random book.

"This is alpha!"He pointed at the letter."Another alpha, here's another one!"

"What about the other letter, such as beta, gamma or maybe delta?"Sisyphus said as he chuckled. He couldn't help but smile looking at the excitement of the boy.

Kardia stared at him for a moment with a quizzical look on his face and a slight frown.

"What are you talking about Sisyphus."

Sisyphus stared back at him and raised his eyebrow, confused.

"The other letters, don't you know. Here, like this one."Sisyphus pointed at the letter 'eta'.

"You're speaking nonsense, Sisyphus. Those are just decoration! Look, now I'm even smarter than you are!"He laughed and then not giving a chance to Sisyphus to answer back, he ran off again toward the training ground to haunt Degel and boast about his 'newly-found-intelligence' that could even outsmart Sisyphus.

Just as he was passing by the Taurus temple, he was called by the gold saint guarding the temple, Taurus Aldebaran. He stopped on his track and stared at the grinning golden bull.

"Uh, what's your name again?"Asked the blue haired boy.

"It's Taurus."Replied the grinning bull

"No,no, your real name."Kardia was starting to get annoyed.

"It's not important."

"Oh, okay."He decided to end the conversation, and started to run off again when Aldebaran called.

"Hey kid! Wanna have some watermelon?"

Kardia turned around and stared at the bull some more before he answered.

"What's watermelon?"

The Taurus laugh a hearty laugh,"Bring your friends here and we're going to eat it together. Off you go now!"And with a sway of his hand, he sent the little brat away.

Kardia was rather confused than excited. Bring a friend? What is it, some kind of appetizer to eat with the water– what was it...Milo? No, watermelon. At least he got it right this time. There was no way in hell he would bring that stupid crab Manigoldo, or the psychotic Gemini who would sometimes wear a mask and claimed to be someone named 'Not-Aspros'. What kind of name is that? Leave that for now. He's not going to bring Shion the sheep there, they were not even that close, and Sisyphus is out of the question. Kardia didn't want his senior to ruin the fun of the 'newly-discovered-by-the-awesome-Kardia-sama's-watermelon' celebration.

Okay, so he thought what about Degel, he wasn't so bad. Only a bit nosy but it was better than nothing.

Before he knew it, he was already standing in the middle of the training ground. Looking a bit confused. Where in the Sanctuary was that ice cream when he's looking for him. It was the biggest problem everyone must face once in a while but the lovely little Scorpion is quite impatient when he encounter something like this, especially when everybody else around him was sparring, and training. He was already thinking of beating the living daylight out of each and every trainee on the field till one of them told him where green haired genius was. But fortunately, Degel showed up just in time before the blue haired kid launched his technique, looking mildly annoyed.

"Why did you come back here?"He asked, the temperature suddenly creep downwards.

"Ah, Degel! There you are, I spend so long searching for you the river Styx had nearly frozen over. Now, come on!"Kardia was completely oblivious to the look on Degel's face, he dragged him toward the Taurus temple by the hand, almost dropping Degel's book in the process which he figured wouldn't make the penguin very happy. But he just pulled him along as the Scorpion was too excited to give a single thought about it.

"Kardia, where are you planning to take me to?"Degel panted as he ran, barely catching up to Kardia's pace.

"To Taurus!"

Degel wanted to ask why but he figured he would had to endure the rest of the journey with an infinite amount of babbling If he did so. Therefore it was the wisest decision to stay quite.

"Here we are!"He grinned.

"Now, what?"

They were already standing by step in front of the temple.

"Taurus wanted to show me something, and told me to bring um...someone."He hesitated for a while, and pulled Degel in, who once again got taken by surprise.

Not too long afterward, a booming sound came out,"There they are! Are you kids ready for some watermelon?"

"Watermelon, so this is the 'surprise'?"Degel didn't know how to react to this unexpected turnout. But who would've guessed that a blue haired boy would simply dragged you halfway across the Sanctuary only to share a watermelon.

"Well come on in, don't be shy!"Aldebaran ushered them in and offer the two saints-to-be a wooden chair across a stone table. Apparently, he had been preparing said watermelon waiting for the two boy to eat."Eat up!"

"So that's watermelon."Kardia stared at it intensely, almost too seriously people might mistook the watermelon to had something wrong with it, that Aldebaran would had to send for a scientist–or in this case, Kardia– to examine the thing.

"By Athena! I must go now, I almost forgot I promised the kids in the orphanage, that I-"And with that, the guardian of the temple of the Golden Ox, ran out, leaving the two boy alone.

Degel let out a sigh, and glanced at his companion. Obviously, the excited little Scorpion hadn't known about watermelons until today, so he decided to make him pay for dragging him. Being a genius he is, its not hard to think of a plan and no one would had guessed that beneath the cool and statuesque mask of Degel, there also was a flash of mischief.

Kardia had been mercilessly tearing and munching the poor fruit, when Degel just calmly looked at him and said,"You also ate the seeds?"

Hearing the question, Kardia stopped from his killing frenzy and stared at the green haired boy blankly.

"Yes. Why?"

Degel gave out a sigh.

"Legend said that, if you ate the seeds, the watermelon will grow in your stomach."

And not a moment later, the poor fruit dropped to the floor, and there was Kardia with a face as pale as paper. His expression was priceless Degel couldn't help but laughed.

Kardia was in a state of a pure shock. He walked out of Taurus, toward Scorpio slowly and silently. Not a word was spoken to any others, as he walked passed the Houses of the Zodiac, not even a single glare of insult when he walked through Cancer, but he certainly gained a lot from its inhabitant, Manigoldo.

After Degel recovered from his fit of laughter, he soon found out that he was already left alone by Kardia.

"Have I gone too far."He said to himself.

On the way back to the Aquarius temple, Degel noticed that Kardia wasn't in his room or anywhere in the temple. He tried to ask Sisyphus when he walked in Sagittarius, but he said Kardia went upstairs and refused to say why.

"What have you done, Degel? He seemed down. It was rare of him to look that way."Sisyphus was always concerned of each and every one of his comrades, especially when it comes to the little Scorpion with a reckless nature.

"Manigoldo said that he looked like the one going into the bank of hell."

"He certainly did."Sisyphus agreed.

Degel felt a really disturbing guilty feeling building in his chest, as he quickly ran through Capricorn and straight into his temple, where he hoped to find Kardia, in a fighting stance ready to strike him down for making fun of him.

But there was nothing waiting for him other than his good old temple.

"It felt a bit lonely." He scanned his empty temple, wondering how many Aquarius gold saints had lived there."What should I do, Unity?"

Feeling that there was nothing else he could do, he went to sleep.

Morning came as soon as opened his eyes, and there he found a letter on the top step toward his temple. Apparently it was from Kardia.

"But I thought he couldn't read, let alone write."

He opened the letter and started to read. Strangely enough the hand writing looked a lot like El Cid's, the Capricorn saint.

_'So he was in Capricorn last night.'_He thought, he didn't pay much attention when he ran through Capricorn the other day.

Here was what the letter said:

_'Dear Degel, I'm sorry if I have done anything wrong to you and there's something I must tell you for I have not long to live. Thanks to that watermelon incident. A few years ago, Sisyphus gave me some books to read, but since I couldn't read back then(and they still don't make any sense now) I think I should just give it to you who love to read. I'm really glad to have met you. Thanks.'_

"That idiot."

Degel threw the letter away and was going to march toward Scorpio, when suddenly Manigoldo came from the pope's chamber carrying an almost identical piece of paper, looking grim.

"Is he really going to die?"He asked.

"What did he tell you?"Degel was rather curious on what could Kardia possibly wrote to his rival.

But the little Cancer trainee just shook his head and said,"He-he gave me all of his training rag doll, which have my face on it, and he said he wanted me to promise him that I'm going to achieve the title of the cruelest saint for him. I mean, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?"

Degel sure didn't like it when Manigoldo freaked out in his temple, but Kardia worried him more. That idiot was going to make a big ruckus for sure, and he would get in real trouble this time if any of the senior got wind of him starting it.

"He's not going to die is he?"

"Give me a break."He threw an annoyed look at the worried little crab and ran down the stairs, hoping Sisyphus had calmed that idiot of a saint down and stopped all of this 'a-watermelon-is going-to-kill-me-from-within' thing.

On a different circumstances, it'd had been hilarious watching Kardia freaked out by the idea of dying, if you think of his proud nature. But he was taking this way too seriously that it was not even funny anymore.

_'Why did I have to do that, it won't do me any good. I was too reckless.'_He told himself, and he began to wonder if stupidity is a new contagious disease.

He passed the Capricorn as usual, without paying much attention. And he arrived in Sagittarius, finding Sisyphus looking as worried as Manigoldo.

"Sisyphus."

Hearing his name, he looked up and found Degel standing before him.

"Degel, have you known about Kardia, It's quite serious."

"He's not really dying, it was just some watermelon."Degel was really getting tired of explaining things, but of course he still need to convince that foolish boy that he was not really dying, and he certainly need to apologize.

"So, it was not his heart."Sisyphus took a breathe and looked relieved at once as he heard that it was not what he thought.

"What do mean, what's wrong with his heart."

A pause.

"Nothing. You're still too young to worry about that."Sisyphus smiled and patted the younger saint's head, and walked away leaving Degel still wondering of what he said earlier.

The Aquarius trainee decided to think about it later and started to walk down the path toward Scorpio where he might find an idiot saying goodbyes to his beloved scorpion pets he kept in his temple secretly. But before he walked out of Sisyphus' hearing distance, he called out.

"Sisyphus, if I may ask what did he tell you in the letter?"

Sisyphus was quite surprised hearing that, but he just smiled and said,"He told me I've been a great senior."

Degel considered the answer for a while and nodded. Then, he disappeared down the way to the next temple.

Sisyphus smiled as he saw him walked away and held out a piece of paper with his friend, El Cid's straight and neat hand writing on it.

_'Thanks Sisyphus, for all the hard work you've done for me. I really appreciate it. You're the best senior ever you're just like an elder brother to me, and I'm sorry I don't think I can be like Degel, because my time is already near. However, he is pretty interesting to talk to but he can be really annoying at the same time. Is that what you call as 'friend'?'_

_P.S:(From El Cid) I don't get what is this kid thinking, but he forced me to help him with the reason 'a request from a dying comrade'. I didn't know what to do.'_

Reading that, he smiled once more and kept the paper in the nearest drawer safely._  
_

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

**Ahahaha...It's been a while since I fooled someone with that old joke, but it sure brings back memories. I still got no idea how should I write the next chapter, so it won't be out for a while. **

**Thanks for reading everyone!**


	5. Cure for the Stubbornness

**Getting to Know You**

**Chapter.5- Cure for the Stubbornness**

**A/N: This chapter is presented more from Degel and Sisyphus's POV, and it gets more serious since I'm planning to end it in a few more chapters. But I promise it won't be too serious to wander into angst category. So, Enjoy!**

* * *

"I've told you, I'm sorry Kardia! Stop pouting like a five year old!" Degel was becoming more and more annoyed watching his friend pacing the training ground back and forth, clearly trying to get his attention. But Degel had been trying to apologize all morning, and the stubborn scorpion just pretended that he didn't here a thing.

"You're impossible..." Degel sighed in exasperation and defeat. He really didn't know what to do or to say. Kardia kept on trying to get his attention but ignored him when Degel tried to form a conversation.

_'But then again, this is Kardia we're talking about. As mad as he is, he won't be able to stay silent forever._' Degel realized.

As if right on cue, Kardia burst out, "Don't you dare talk to me again! You're the one who got me into this mess. It's all your fault that I'm now the laughing stock of the whole wide world!"

"The whole world? Now that was the most exaggerated statement of the day." Degel might be one of the kid with the coolest head, but even he his patience had a limit, considering he wasted a perfect morning to apologize to the dimwitted brat rather than reading his new book.

"That stupid crab, Manigoldo kept on carrying those cursed watermelon everywhere he goes! Mocking ME!" Kardia spat.

"So Manigoldo mocked you. It's not unusual, how would it possibly made you the laughing stock of the world?" Degel raised an eyebrow, failing to grasp the little scorpion's train of thought.

Kardia hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right answer to which Degel won't be able to make a smart remark out of. And for the obvious reasons, he failed rather spectacularly.

"Well. because...because he MOCKED me!"

"So I'm safe to assume he's your 'whole world' then?"

"No, That's sick! What's wrong with you?!"

Degel silently noted that it's quite surprising that Kardia's stupidity had never failed to impress him. And as he tried to figure out how much brain cells are there inside his friend's steaming head, Kardia stormed off to pick another fight with a smaller kid.

"Oh, for Athena's sake Kardia! Stop your childish behavior!"

"Mind your own business Snowball!"

Degel had had enough of this and decided to cool his head off somewhere nice, preferably with a book and a nice cup of tea by his side, trying hard to ignore Kardia's rampaging on those poor trainees.

The green haired boy marched toward his own cozy temple. Despite its ridiculously low temperature, it was one of the few places Degel calls home.

Passing trough the seemly endless stairs and temples were not a challenge to the boy due to his hard training and of course, dealing with murderous stare from several inhabitants of some certain temple require an extra training in mental preparation. For Degel, mostly to keep his head and only his head cool, resisting the urge to froze a certain crab.

"Yo, Ice cube!" Came a familiar voice from the forth temple.

"Manigoldo." Degel regarded the 'guardian' of the place keeping his senses alert. He'd never liked the other boy from the start. But since he got involved in Kardia, the Cancer trainee had been keeping his eyes and laid out special traps to annoy Degel too.

"I heard that you're having a fight with your dear wife, eh?" He smirked.

"He's not my wife Manigoldo, now allow me to pass this temple of yours."

Degel noted that it's true what Kardia told him about the Cancer trainee. Even now, he got a watermelon strapped to his back. Rather ridiculous if he might add.

The short-haired boy seemed amused by the irritated expression on the other boy's face.

"Or what?"

The question was immediately answered by Degel freezing the whole temple and its content.

"Or this." He calmly walked away unceremoniously pondering what punishment would be waiting for him from the pope, a former Cancer saint himself. If shouldn't be too harsh since the pope himself knew first-handed how childish his pupil was.

Walking pass the other temples were just normal with an empty temple of the Lion and a familiar shiver than ran through his spine every time he walked by Virgo. Next, he got a worried look on Dohko's face, and then he was already standing before the entrance of the eight house of the zodiac, the house of the golden scorpion in which Kardia resided.

_'I'd really love to skip this temple.'_ He thought grudgingly, knowing that it was in fact impossible as he willed himself to enter the temple. The place is in a state worse than the saint's training gear storage, a total chaos.

"Ugh, even if some specters manage to infiltrate the Sanctuary this far, they would certainly feel an urge to clean this place up." He uttered in disgust as he picked up a book he gave Kardia to learn the alphabets and instead, he found some doodles in it, quite terrible but still recognizable. There was a drawing of something he interpreted as a man that he assumed was Kardia's self portrait from the sparkling armor the guy is wearing, and a face that Kardia would define as 'handsome' which offended Degel's eyes. Other than that, apples. Lots and lots of apples.

"He got an ego far greater in size than Bluegard. And his obsession toward apples is just sick."

Degel was busy cleaning the temple for his subconscious self who was used to tidy library and neatly stacked books(not that Kardia had any of those) just can't stand this state of a mess. When suddenly the sound of footsteps echoed from the exit of the eight palace, but the Aquarius trainee was too busy clearing the mess of the little Scorpion to notice anything.

Sisyphus stood still looking at Degel, completely oblivious to his presence. Amused, he decided to test how long would the boy take to notice him being there. And only in mere seconds, Degel's body turned rigid and his expression was like a rabbit caught in a spotlight.

His first sentence were, "I'm not stealing anything."

With that, the young Sagittarius saint laughed out loud. It was not the kind of laugh as Manigoldo, it was a laugh full of kindness that warms the heart.

"It's not like you Degel, to be so careless and out of wit!" The brown haired saint exclaimed as he helped his junior to picked up some dirty laundry off the floor.

"I know." He muttered silently. The fight with Kardia had affected him more than he'd imagine. It had completely shocked him out of character.

"Sisyphus." The boy called. Though he already recovered from the earlier shock, Sisyphus could still see that clearly something is bothering him. Obviously, it's about Kardia.

"No, it's nothing." He changed his mind.

_'So, there is something more to this fight.' _Sisyphus thought to himself. He picked up the last of the dirty clothes and set them neatly in a laundry basket before he straightened up and took a moment to himself to admire their work.

"I've never seen the Scorpio temple this clean since the very day Kardia moved in." Degel mumbled quietly.

Sisyphus looked at the green haired kid and wondered if he really was alright. It was as though the green haired boy radiating a distress signal from the way he knitted his brow, gears running and started to steam in his head. Without doubt, Kardia had left a huge impact upon the poor trainee, for once mentally rather than physically. Would it be considered rude to pry more into their personal matters, the brunette wondered. But looking at the circumstances, it would be unwise to leave Degel and Kardia to their own devices. After all, he was the one who started their blooming friendship. And it was time to save the small sprout from wilting.

"Degel." Sisyphus studied the expression of the younger boy analytically, taking in every small changes in his feature. Well, Degel was never one to express his feeling so freely but Sisyphus had kind of learned how to read 'blank' since Degel were brought to the Sanctuary.

Degel's eyebrow shifted to a questioning look which meant forming a micrometer arch from his usual resting face as Sisyphus watched with silent awe.

Degel waited for Sisyphus to speak, but he as the older saint was just standing there mind racing as he tried to phrase his question, Degel took the initiative to ask.

"Do you happen to know a cure for Kardia?"

That question itself completely threw Sisyphus off balance. How could he knew? Kardia's condition was something kept in top secret. Sisyphus doubted that Kardia would wanted to expose a secret he kept so dearly to himself.

"How could you-" Sisyphus for once, was out of words.

"I just can't stand it anymore." Unfortunately, Degel was turning his back to Sisyphus as he browsed Kardia's collection of training dolls, resulting him missing the look of horror on Sisyphus' face.

"He…is a special case." Sisyphus began after taking consideration to what extent should he let the conversation went.

"I figured just as much." Degel smiled to himself thinking of Kardia's stubbornness. If only there was a cure for stubbornness, he wondered.

"A cure." He mused. Stubbornness was actually not a disease therefore a physical cure was impossible to exist. A therapy however, was a very tempting option.

"I'm afraid there is no medicine to ease his condition." Degel said again, more to himself than Sisyphus.

Poor Sisyphus, he began to wonder himself how much did Degel knew about Kardia's condition? Kardia's pride won't possibly allowed Degel to know the secret of his heart. But Sisyphus had also begun to doubt himself. But for Degel to be willing to find a cure for Kardia, it was endearing to say the least, but Sisyphus won't spill the bean unless he knew for sure how much Degel knew about the subject. Little did the brown haired saint know, him and Degel were talking about a totally different matter although both subject were closely related to Kardia.

"How did you know about it?" Sisyphus finally asked, tentatively waiting for his reply calculating his next steps.

"What do you mean?" Degel eyed his senior questioningly. Kardia's stubbornness was a well-known matter. Surely, Sisyphus was talking about something else altogether. Something he was hiding. Being the genius he was, Degel figured out Sisyphus' cautiousness and there must be something he hid, something about Kardia.

'_Well, isn't it interesting.' _Degel thought to himself, suppressing an urge to smile.

'_I'll coax it out of him.'_

"Kardia's condition." The air became tense when Sisyphus uttered the last few words. Degel found the situation to be in his favor.

"A cure." Degel eyed the Sagittarius saint's expression hardened, to be able to coax everything out from the older saint, he had to keep his reply as vaguely as possible, but staying within the range of logical answers.

"A cure has to be found for Kardia." The green haired boy continued.

"So you knew?" That was all that came from Sisyphus.

Degel found himself in a tough situation. But judging from Sisyphus's expression he just had to take a long shot.

"I do. But do you? I just can't believe for a fact that Kardia would trust you enough to tell you." Degel watched as the brunette sighed.

"I never knew that he would tell you about his heart." Sisyphus shook his head, unknowing that he had let the cat out of the bag.

"What's with his heart?" Degel let it slipped through him in a moment of confusion.

Sisyphus's eye widened at the realization of what he had done.

_Shit._

The temperature dropped all of a sudden and Degel stood there silently as Sisyphus took a good look at his junior's expression. Was that worry he saw?

"Sisyphus, tell me all you know about Kardia. Please."

* * *

**TBC**

**So now Degel knew something is definitely wrong! YAY! :D**

**Anyway tell me what do you think about this chapter and guess what will happen next! Reviews will be very much appreciated!**

**See ya!**


End file.
